


Fractured Code

by Tawnis



Series: Legacy of Aincrad Trilogy [1]
Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Psychological Horror, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:35:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24749227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tawnis/pseuds/Tawnis
Summary: The AmuSphere is nothing like the nerve gear. With safeguards in place to protect the users bodies, everyone thinks that there's no danger. However, after a pair of players playing a new horror VRMMO based on the works of HP Lovecraft go berserk and kill their guild-mates IRL, it soon becomes clear that it's now the players minds that are on the line.
Series: Legacy of Aincrad Trilogy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1789672
Kudos: 3





	1. New Arrival

Fractured Code

Chapter I – New Arrival:

Kirito dismounted his motorcycle in front of the Dicey Cafe and slung his helmet under his arm. Even a good distance from the door he could hear the sounds of a party in full swing coming from inside. It had never been his kind of scene, but he had promised to attend. He unzipped his leather jacket, took a deep breath and made his way inside. 

Agil's little cafe was packed far more than usual for the evening; so much so that Kirito had to squeeze past a couple of Fuurinkazan members just to reach the table that Asuna and Sinon were saving for him. 

“Hey Kirito, what took you so long?” Asuna asked, with a welcoming smile. 

“Well I wasn't exactly expecting to wade through a mosh pit. I had no idea Agil was inviting so many people.” Kirito took off his leather jacket and stored his helmet under the table before sitting down. He couldn't help keeping a smile from his face as he did so, Asuna was wearing a light pink t-shirt that he was quite fond of. 

“He said everyone he had ever been in a party with and their guests.” Asuna reminded him. “Some couldn't make it, but everyone tried, he's the kind of guy you just want to turn up for.” 

“True, he certainly rolled a lot higher on his Charisma than most.”

“It's a learned skill, you should try it sometime.” Asuna jibed with a chuckle. 

Kirito rolled his eyes and squeezed her hand affectionately. “Have you two been waiting long?” he asked. 

“Not too long,” she replied. “The place filled up quickly. Did you want something to drink?”

“I was thinking about it, not too sure yet. Sinon, you want anything?”

When no reply came he finally looked over to the young woman who was sharing the table with them. She was wearing a simple buttoned white shirt and was busy staring blankly into the crowd.

“Uhh, you okay over there Sinon?” Kazuto asked, finally noticing that she wasn't participating in the conversation.

“Oh,” she said snapping out of her reverie. “Sorry... I was just thinking of how few people I actually know here. I mean... I appreciate you both bringing me as your guest and all, but this seems kinda like an SAO survivor thing, doesn't it?” 

“It's a celebration,” Asuna reminded her. “Not just of escaping SAO but of the lives we lead and the futures we’ve forged beyond. You're our friend Shino, you're part of that future now.” 

Sinon's slightly glum look slowly changed to a soft smile. “Thanks,” she said. 

“So do either of you know when...” Kirito was cut off by the room falling silent and Agil pushed his way into the main bar area from one of the doors in the back. 

For a moment Kazuto caught a brief glimpse of a woman in the back who must have been Agil's wife. He had never met her himself, and Agil had always said that she wasn't much if a people person offline. 

Agil wore the same white dress shirt he'd seem him in many a night at the cafe, however he did have something he had certainly never seen him with before. In one burly arm, Agil held the reason he had called them all together. A baby boy that looked to be no more than two months old and had a rather confused look on his face. 

“I would like to officially introduce you all to Terrance William Mills.” he announced, then added with a smile. “Your future raid leader.” 

A chorus of laughs and chuckles echoed through the bar as everyone careened their necks to get a look at Agil's son. Before Kirito had even realized she'd moved, Asuna was standing on her seat looking over everyone's heads to see the baby.

“Oh he's so cute!” she squeaked. 

Agil cleared his throat to quite the remaining chuckles. “Look, I wanted to bring you all under one roof to tell you how much you've all meant to me. We may not have always gotten along, or seen eye to eye, but at one point we were all party members, our lives all depended upon one another. I wouldn't be here, and neither would Terrance, if it hadn't been for each and every one of you. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you all.”

The room was instantly filled with embarrassed smiles and murmured thanks. In SAO they may have all been confident warriors, but that only stuck with a handful of them in the real world. However once Agil continued with “First round's on the house.” the erupting cheers were enough to get Terrance to start crying. 

Agil quickly moved into the back room to calm his son down while a couple members of his former guild, The Bro Squad, manned the bar. 

“Let's go.” Asuna exclaimed, grabbing Kirito by the arm. “And don't forget the gifts, I stashed them under the table.” she reminded. 

Kazuto quickly grabbed the gifts she had sequestered away before being dragged through the crowd by his girlfriend with Sinon following close behind. They bumped into a couple people, but still managed to make it through the crowd relatively easily. Without waiting for an invitation, Asuna dragged them into the back room. 

“Oh, hey guys.” Agil greeted them, coming back around a corner. “Kathy just took Terrance upstairs, there was a bit too much excitement for the little guy; it's almost his bed time anyway.” 

“Aww, I was hoping to give him our gifts to him in person.” Asuna pouted.

“Gifts? You guys didn't have to-”

“But we wanted to.” Asuna insisted, perking right back up. “Go on” she said, pushing Kirito to the front.

“Here you go... congratulations.” Kirito said awkwardly while holding out a long wrapped parcel. 

Agil took a few moments to tear off the wrapping paper before chucking. “Where on earth did you find this?” he asked. In his hands he held a long axe made of some kind of sturdy foam, durable enough to withstand a child’s punishment but light enough for them to play with. It also looked remarkably like the axe Agil had used on the first couple floors of SAO. 

“You do enough searching online and you can find pretty much anything.” Kirito replied. 

“Thanks man.” Agil said and held out his fist. 

Kazuto gave it a quick bump and stepped aside for Asuna. Her smile lit up the room as she presented her present to Agil. 

Agil gently removed the stylish bow in the middle and carefully took apart the immaculately folded wrapping paper to reveal what seemed at first to be an average forest green baby's onesy. Once Agil unfolded it however he saw emblazoned upon the front the words Bro Squad the name of Agil old SAO guild. 

“I know the guild was just for you and your friends, but I figured you'd make an exception for your son.” she said.

“Of course.” Agil said with a warm smile before giving Asuna a big bear hug. “Thanks.” 

Sinon stood at the back nervously shifting a little back and forth. “Uhh, I didn't know anything about you in SAO so I couldn't really be part of the theme, but I did get you this... I hope he likes it.” She held out a small wrapped package with both hands. 

“Thanks Asada.” Agil said and opened the small package. 

Inside was what looked like an old NES controller from way back in the day, however when he touched it, Agil noticed it was made of rubber, or something similar. The underside was textured bumpy and the controller buttons and pads jutted out a bit, but were non-functional. 

“The person who sold it to me said it was a great teething toy for when he gets to that age.” 

“These are all great,” Agril said with a jovial smile. “Thank you all. I'm going to take these upstairs, you three go enjoy the party.” 

“We'll do that.” Kirito replied. “And Agil,” he said as the big man turned to leave. “Contratz man.” 

*************

The party went on for several hours. Silica and the youngest members were the first to head out, followed by most of the people who had work or go to school the next day. Eventually only a fraction of the riotous SAO survivors remained. 

Liz and Sinon sat at the bar talking shop with Agil about how the crafting systems varied between SAO, ALO, and GGO. Klein and the other Fuurinkazan members had gotten more than a little tipsy and were trying in vain to impress the few remaining women at the party. All the while Kirito and Asuna quietly sat beside each other at their little table, both nursing a half finished drink and simply enjoying each others company. 

Just as Kirito brought his glass to his mouth and took a sip, Asuna very casually asked a simple question.

“So... do you ever think of having kids?”

It took all Kazuto's self control not to spray his drink across the table, but he still couldn't prevent a rather excessive coughing fit that ended with him face down on the table gasping for air.

When he finally recovered, he looked up at his girlfriend who was trying with all her might not to explode with laughter. “You waited until I took a drink on purpose, didn't you?” he asked.

Asuna slowly calmed down until all that remained was a sly smirk. “Maybe,” she admitted, “but the question still stands.”

“Honestly, since we have Yui, I haven't really thought about it much.”

“I love Yui too, but she was already so developed when we took her in. Eventually I'd like to try it from scratch you know... what do you think?” 

Asuna nervously rubbed her hands together as she waited for Kirito's reply. She had clearly been thinking about this for some time. Since they found out about Agil's son at least, perhaps even before then? It's not like he was against having a family, but he just never thought it would become a topic of conversation so soon. 

“One day.” He eventually said. “There's so much going on here and now, I don't think we're ready for something like that yet... I don't think we will be for a while.”

Asuna bumped him affectionately with her shoulder. “That's what I meant silly, I wasn't saying I wanted one now.” she couldn't help but let out a brief chuckle. “You looked like you were going to have a heart attack.” 

“Well I-”

Kirito was cut off mid sentence when the front doors to the cafe swung wide and in walked a clean cut man in a sharp black suit. He looked to be middle aged, had short black hair, was average build with average height; his most discerning feature was perhaps that there was in fact nothing about him that really stood out at all. His brown eyes scanned the now quiet room until they locked onto Kirito. 

“Oh no, not again.” Asuna said and shot up from her chair to face down the suit. “Look here!” she shouted pointing an accusatory finger at him, “I don't know who the hell you are with this time and I don't care, we've had enough of all this crap! Kirito's still recovering from the last debacle that Kikuoka put him through. If you're after him, you're bringing all of us along this time!”

“Asuna Yuuki I presume?” the man asked.

“Yeah.” 

“My name is Dai Nishiyama, special agent with the Japanese department of Cyber-defence, and I have no direct association with Seijirou Kikuoka.” He said matter of factly, briefly flashing a badge. “I am glad you are so interested in assisting however, because I came to see you as well.”

Asuna was taken aback for a moment, usually these suits showed up to whisk Kirito away to who knew where to do God knows what while the rest of them were all kept in the dark.

“And not just the two of you,” he continued. “Ryoutarou Tsuboi...”

Klein stepped out from his guild mates still a little on the drunk side. “Wait, you want me too?” he asked pointing to himself.

“Andrew Mills...” the man continued. 

Agil stepped out from behind the bar. “Okay, what's this all about?” he asked.

“Rika Shinozaki...” 

Liz nearly fell off her chair in surprise. “Wait what?!” she exclaimed “Why me?” 

“And Shnio Asada.”

“Me? But I'm not even an SAO survivor.” 

Kirito stepped up beside Asuna in the midst of everyone's questions to get a good look at this man.

“And of course, Kazuto Kirigaya, the famous Kirito who cleared SAO.” he finished.

“Not alone,” He replied. “Though judging by the people you've singled out, you already knew that.” 

“Very much so,” he replied. “I’ve followed all of you closely since the liberation of Aincrad, all the way through the kidnapping scandal that followed, the subsequent Death Gun incident and beyond.” 

Agent Nishiyama stood nearly a head taller than Kirito, but the young man did a good job of staring him down regardless. “I think it's time you answered their questions,” he said. “What's this all about?” 

“I'm afraid I can't answer that here” he stated. “However I can say that is a matter to which you are all intimately familiar, and that I would like to put you all on retainer for the foreseeable future.” He pushed the door open to reveal a limousine waiting outside. “If you'd all come with me, we can discus the terms of the contract at my office.”

“Give us a minute to talk this over.” Kirito said, before everyone grouped up for a makeshift huddle as far away from Agent Nishiyama as they could without being too obvious about it. 

“This guy gives me the creeps.” Liz insisted. “How do we know he's not trying to do something crazy like kidnap us or something?” 

“If he were going to do that, why would he come to us in front of so many witnesses?” Asuna asked.

“To make is seem less suspicious.” Liz insisted. 

“He didn't need to.” Kirito said causing everyone to look to him. “He knew our names and faces, since he works for the government, chances are he also knows stuff like where we live and who our families are. If he'd wanted to dome something shady, he could have done it in a much easier way. He's trying to make us think he's not a threat, weather that's true or not.” 

“We can at least hear the guy out.” Klein stated. “We can always just say no and split later.”

“If it's that easy,” Agil noted. “He's being purposefully vague, he's obviously hiding something.” 

“What do you think Sinon?” Kirito asked. “You haven’t said your piece yet.” 

Sinon was silent for a few moments before she finally spoke. “On the battlefield, a lack of information can be deadly. We don't know anything about this guy or who he works for, but he knows a lot about us. If he's someone we can trust or not isn't the issue, it's that he's someone we need to know more about.”

“Well put.” Asuna said. “All in favour?” 

A quiet chorus of assents responded and the decision was made. 

Kirito turned around to face the mysterious agent who had come to see them. Flanked by the friends whom he had faced death with time and time again he uttered the simple words. “Okay, we're in.”


	2. Chapter II: A Fate Worse Than Death

Chapter II – A Fate Worse Than Death:

The limousine they found themselves in was very nice, but ride itself was uncomfortably quiet. Agent Nishiyama drove the vehicle himself and was separated from Kirito and his friends, who were given free reign of the back. They were all nervous and curious to varying degrees, but none dared voice their concerns until they had sussed out more information from their mysterious driver. 

Agil had closed down the bar before they left, sending everyone home and filling his wife in on Agent Nishiyama's request. Liz and Asuna were already planning a girl's night at Sinon's place who lived alone so they were free; Klein also lived alone and Kirito's family was out of town. Quietly Kirito wondered if this was all a coincidence or not. Him coming across them all on a night when no one had any other prior engagements other than the party.

After almost twenty minutes of nearly unbearable silence, they pulled the parking lot of a large building. There was no sign as they came in to say what the building was and there was little in the way of identifying features as they got out of the vehicle and looked around. 

The sun had already set and only the dim streetlights cast a glow over their destination. The building itself was quite large and looked to be a few decades old. It was painted in drab unassuming colours and while the area around the building was far from dilapidated, it also didn't look terribly well kept. 

“If you will all follow me please, I will introduce you to the rest of my team and answer all of your questions.” Agent Nishiyama said as he approached a door with a simple key-card scanner. 

With a quick swipe and a beep, the door opened and they were welcomed inside. 

Once inside, they were lead down a short hallway to a large boardroom. The walls were painted a plain slate grey that their eyes tended to slide right off, drawing attention to the few things in the room. A massive window that they were unable to see through covered a large portion of the far wall. In the room itself, a large rectangular mahogany table that seated twelve took up the bulk of the space. At the far end of it sat a middle aged woman dressed in a similar fashion to Agent Nishiyama with a steaming pot of tea and several cups. 

She reminded Kirito of Agent Nishiyama in her unremarkableness. Like him, she was average height and build without any features to immediately distinguish herself. Her dark brown hair was tied tightly at the back with something that Kirito couldn't see from where he stood. 

“Please have a seat,” Agent Nishiyama said, “feel free to help yourself to some tea.” 

Asuna graciously accepted a cup from the other agent while everyone else took a seat at the table. 

“I'd like to introduce you all to Agent Chiho Shirai. As of right now, aside from a few support staff that have already gone home for the night, she is the rest of my team.”

“Wait what?” Kirito exclaimed. “You made it sound like you were part of some big government agency.”

“Well... we were.” Agent Nishiyama said, taking a seat himself. “But with no disrespect meant, you've basically put us out of a job.”

“What? How so?” 

“You see, our agency was founded in the wake of the SAO incident. We worked in tandem with a few other agencies, but our primary goal was to contact the players trapped in SAO and work to secure their freedom.”

“It was such a huge incident at the time that the government basically threw money at us hoping that we could solve it. At first it seemed like we were making headway, we developed a dozen full dive nerve gear emulation pods that would allow us to control everything that happened to the body while in full dive. This would keep myself and others safe when we would eventually head into SAO itself to assist you.”

Agent Nishiyama leaned over and flicked a switch that illuminated the room through the window. The massive space on the other side held six of the pods he had described as well as all kinds of monitoring equipment. There was a door on the far end that Kirito assumed led to a room that housed the other six.

“While we managed to get the hardware crated in about six months time, the software proved far more... troublesome.” He reached over and grabbed a cup of tea for himself as he spoke. “We still don't really know how Akihiko Kayaba coded SAO's authentication system, but even with over two years of the best tech geniuses and computer hackers money could buy and we still couldn't break into the game itself.”

At the mention of that kind of firewall, Kirito could help but wonder just what kind of power the cardinal system had actually had over them in SAO. It seemed like a lot more that even he had been aware of. 

“Then the day came when you all freed yourselves. The government lost a lot of faith in us, but we were still useful as not all of the players had escaped SAO.” Agent Nishiyama took another sip of his tea as he looked to be remembering something specific. 

“We suspected that they were being held in some other virtual space as Aincrad had been completely destroyed. We even had our suspicions that someone with former ties to Kayaba had done this on purpose. We were keeping tabs on Nobuyuki Sugou as well as a few others, but couldn't come up with anything concrete. Then, once again, you managed to free yourselves without our intervention. Or more aptly, you freed them Kirigaya.” 

Kirito couldn't help but fidget a little nervously at the directness of it all. He had a gut feeling where the rest of this conversation was heading and didn't care for his unintentional involvement in it. At the end of the day, he did what he had to do, but seeing how it had negatively affected others who had been trying their hardest for years to help them ate at him a little.

“We lost face and were hit with steep budget cuts. Our team was halved and we set about working on preventative measures to keep situations like that from ever happening again.”

“Then the Death Gun incident happened. It seems that Kikuoka had little faith in us a well as he didn't even ask us to take part in the investigation and went straight to you.” 

Agent Nishiyama looked directly into Kirito's eyes, as if he seemed to be reading the young man's mind. “I want you to know that we don't blame you for what happened to us Kirigaya, any of us would have done the same in your place.”

Despite the directness of it, Kirito relaxed a little at the comment as Agent Nishiyama continued his story.

“We were all hands on deck, spent nearly all of our waking ours in game trying to track down Death Gun. If we could interact with him and get any kind of data, it could have lead to his real self. However after weeks of searching, we came up empty. Then the third BOB happened, and you once again solved our problem for us.”

“That turned out to be the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak. Nearly everyone was let go, the department is now run with only a skeleton crew just so that the government can officially say it has a gaming cyber-security division rather than believing that it actually needed one. It's not like they could actually tell anyone that they were leaving the fate of it's people up to a bunch of civilian gamers they had no control over.”

“Now, another threat has arisen, and we are no longer capable of handling it on our own.” Agent Nishiyama's gaze drifted between Kirito and his friends. “You've all been a part of facing this kind of thing before and now we need you to do so again. I've liquidated everything we can spare to come up with a small retainer for each of you. Please... we need your help.” he said wrapping up his speech with a sincere bow to which Agent Shirai silently mimicked. 

Kirito looked to his friends all of whom were still taking in the information of how their lives had been affecting all these people whom they had never even met before. 

“We might be able to help,” he finally said. “First though, we need to know what we're up against.” 

“Right, of course.” Agent Nishiyama replied. “Have any of you heard of the new VRMMO that hit the Japanese market last month, Eldritch Tales Online?” 

Everyone shook their heads, except for Sinon who nodded. “I haven't played it myself, but I've heard of it. A few people I know from GGO swapped over to give it a try since it has some gun-play in it; however they had a lot of trouble using firearms without a bullet circle and quickly gave it up. From what I recall, it was developed in the west and based of the works of some famous horror novelist.”

“Yes,” Agent Nishiyama replied, “H.P. Lovecraft.” 

“Wasn't he the Cthulhu guy?” Klein asked. 

“Yeah that's right.” Asuna replied. “I'm pretty sure that I read some of his work a while back.” 

“Wow,” Kirito said “since when are you into horror fiction?” 

“I'm really not, it was for a school assignment. We were studying how famous authors from around the world shaped their cultures perceptions around genre. Honestly his work wasn't for me, but it was interesting from a technical level.”

“How so?”

“You see, he never really described the creatures and horrors in his stories; in fact there was little to no action in them at all. Instead he helps the reader to imagine a situation and allows them to scare themselves through their own conclusions... at least in the stories that I read.” 

“So the game is made to really scare players... in the Amushpere rig, that shouldn't really be possible should it?” Kirito finally stated. “It has a panic mode built into the processing; if a person's heart rate rises to abnormal levels, it will initiate an auto disconnect. It should be impossible to play a horror game on a rig like that.”

“You're right on the money Kirigaya.” Nishiyama stated. “That's why ETO was never originally released in Japan. It requires players to sign a waiver allowing them to disable certain safety features in the Amusphere in order to play the game. Since no other countries have had an incidents like SAO, they are a lot more lax with their regulations and the game was approved for mass distribution, but not here.”

“But it is now?”

“After a year of high sales and no issues overseas, the regulations were eventually scaled back, and the game was released. However, something's different about our version; I just don't exactly know what yet.”

“That's... not very helpful. Do you have any more specifics?” Kirito asked. 

Agent Nishiyama looked down at the table for a moment without saying anything. Kirito couldn’t be sure, but he thought the man was shaking ever so slightly.

“It started a few weeks ago with the Anathme Blades incident.” he finally began. 

Everyone perked up at the mention of that, it had been all over the news lately. Two gamers that led a small guild called the Anathme Blades killed their guild mates IRL, then committed suicide. The game they played in however had never been disclosed, though it now seemed obvious that it was ETO. 

“The media had a field day and the usual proponents of “ban violent video games” came our of the woodwork again. However it's being downplayed as an isolated incident as most of those people lost credibility long ago.” Agent Nishiyama sighed and finally looked back up at Kirito and his friends. “It is not however, an isolated incident; but we've been given a gag order to stay silent until we can find the cause.” The man was shaking now, but from fury, sadness, or some combination, Kirito couldn't say. 

Agent Shirai, who had so far been silent on the sidelines stepped up and put her hand gently on Nishiyama's shoulder. “It's okay Dai, I can tell them the rest.” Her voice was soft, but still somehow strangely commanding. When she turned to face them, everyone paid immediate attention. 

“With all the budget cuts around here, we've all been forced to tighten our purse-strings. Dai... I mean Agent Nishiyama, moved in with an old collage friend of his. He was a big gamer as well and had gone full force into ETO.”

“It's okay Chiho.” Agent Nishiyama said, cutting her off. “I appreciate the thought, but this is my story to tell.”

With a slight nod, she steeped back once again. 

“Things were normal at first, he played a lot, but he still was always up for work on time and we even hung out IRL on occasion. However, a couple weeks ago, things started to change.” Agent Nishiyama took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose while looking down at the table. 

“He started getting obsessed with the game; it was gradual at first, just little things like blowing me off or skipping the odd meal... but eventually he eventually stopped going to work, barely ate, never showered. Within the span of two weeks, he was a totally different person.”

“Then, a few days ago... he just snapped. He lunged at me with a knife from the kitchen, babbling incoherently. We grappled for the weapon and he actually bit me, like a rabid fucking dog, he took a chunk right out of my arm.” Agent Nishiyama was silent for a moment, and Kirito noticed his left hand resting gently on his right forearm.

“I was able to throw him off on reflex, but he came down hard on the knife...” Agent Nishiyama's eyes welled up, but he managed to hold back the tears. “He was dead before the paramedics arrived.”

“My God...” Asuna whispered. 

“He was a top tier player in ETO, just like the Anathme Blades, and the same thing happened to both of them; there's no way that's a coincidence. Something's wrong inside that world, but the multi-billion dollar company that owns the game is keeping it under wraps, at least for the time being. We're too small to investigate something like this on our own now... we need your help.”

Agent Nishiyama finally looked back up at Kazuto and his friends. “I won't lie to you and tell you that you will be safe in taking this job. We can keep your physical bodies protected here of course, but after learning what we have, there's no guarantee that your minds will return. That being said... I'm going after whatever is responsible for this, and I'd feel a lot better about my chances with all of you in my party... I can give you all time to think it over if you need to.”

“I'm in.” Kirito said without hesitation. 

“Kirito wait,” Asuna urged him. “We should at least discus this first.”

“I know, but when I released the World Seed I became responsible, at least in part, for everything done with it. I can't in good conscience let this go on, regardless of the risks.”

“I'm not saying don't do it, I'm just saying lets have a conversation about it first, we're a team aren't we?” Asuna asked. 

“It's my fault this is all out there, you don't all need to -” 

Asuna and Agent Nishiyama both opened their mouths to speak but Klein beat them to it slamming his hands down on the table. 

“K... Klein?” Kirito stammered in surprise. 

“I have had it with your whole lonely hero crap!” He shouted. 

“Look I-” 

“I'm not done!” Klein interrupted again pointing accusingly at his best friend. “Every time you've got to be the one to go and save the day and to hell with the rest of us. I know you're thinking that this is your responsibility, that you don't want us to be in danger, well tough.”

“You're not here to see how much all your friends worry about you, you don't see how much we wish we'd all be fighting alongside you. You don't get to decide for us, and you don't get to run off on your own again. We're a team, he brought us all here together, we're all doing this together. Right?” He said, looking around at everyone. 

“Always.” Asuna answered. 

“For sure.” Liz replied.

Sinon just smiled and nodded her assent. 

“Mister Tsuboi is correct Kiragaya. I have assembled you all, because I need all of you. Not only are you all either S class or A class MMO players, but you're all close friends. If something in that game really can alter peoples minds, I want to catch it before it gets too serious and prevent any permanent damage. That means people who know you inside and out and can speak up if you start acting strange. I need all of you.”

“All right... I’m sorry.” Kirito finally said.

Liz smiled and nudged Klein with her elbow. “You know, you do have your moments.... not many of them, but you do have them.” 

“Thanks... I think.” he replied. 

“I really hate to be the one to break up the cheer, but I can't come along.” Agil stated. 

Everyone turned to look at him in surprise.

“Don't get me wrong, part of me would love to go off on another crazy adventure with you lot, but I've got a family to think of now. If whatever this is really can alter peoples minds and make them hurt the people around them... I just can't take that chance.”

“It's okay, we understand.” Asuna replied and rest of the crew nodded in agreement. 

“Thanks everyone.” Agil said with a sad smile. “Drinks are on me when you all get back. It's the least I can do when you're all out risking your lives again.”

“That's completely understandable Mr. Mills.” Agent Nishiyama said. “Agent Shirai can drive you back to the cafe while I go over the details with everyone else.”

Agent Shirai politely nodded to the group then escorted Agil quietly outside. 

“I know it's late, so I'll try not to keep you too long.” Agent Nishiyama stated. “We'll do a quick overview of the game itself and my current leads, followed by a brief dive to acclimatize yourself to the UI. Tomorrow is Saturday so we can start in earnest then.”

“That sounds good to me.” Kirito stated and everyone else nodded their agreement. 

“First off, the game has six classes, but they don't follow the typical holy trinity of tank, healer, and DPS; though some do tilt towards specific archetypes.” As Agent Nishiyama spoke he tapped a few icons on a keyboard built into the table and 3D images of the classes appeared on the table. “The classes are Brawler, Duellist, Rouge, Officer, Researcher, and Spiritualist.”

Asuna knew that Kirito and Klien would both want to play the duellists and Sinon was staring at the Officer as it was the only one with a gun. Liz was skimming through some projected notes that showed the researcher as the best crafting class. She had no idea what Agent Nishiyama preferred which meat she was probably going to be relegated to healing/support duty again. Asuna sighed, but quickly internally reprimanded herself; this wasn't about having fun, it was about saving lives.

“The party system in ETO can accommodate eight players, so it's good to have at least one of each class to be prepared for anything.” Agent Nishiyama mentioned. 

“What are you and Agent Shirai going to be playing?” Asuna asked “We should base our decisions somewhat off that?”

“I'll play whatever role needs to be filled, I'm not picky,” Agent Nishiyama replied. “However Agent Shirai will not be diving, she will be monitoring us from the outside.”

Asuna did a quick head count to make sure she hadn’t gone crazy. “Wait, so then even if Agil had stayed, we would still have been down one person?”

“Not exactly.” Agent Nishiyama stated. “We have recruited one other player, though they insisted on being allowed to make their own introductions.”

As if on queue, the side door to the meeting room swung open and a young woman walked in. 

She was short with curly dirty blonde hair that was mostly covered by the hood of an old beige sweater. As she looked up at them her brown eyes gleamed and Asuna knew who she was even before she spoke. “Hey A-chan, Ki-boy; it's been a long time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone.
> 
> Took a little longer to get to updating this chapter than I thought, especially given that compared to the first one I didn't even need to change all that much. Going to try to keep up with the weekly update, but you know, life and stuff. 
> 
> Anyhow, hope you're all enjoying and I'll see you soon.
> 
> \- Tawnis


	3. Chapter 3: Eldritch Tales Online

Chapter III – Eldritch Tales Online:

“Argo!” Asuna exclaimed as everyone got a first hand glimpse of why she was nicknamed “lightning flash”. She bolted across the room and scooped Argo up in a giant spinning hug. “It's been forever!” 

“Hey Argo,” Kirito greeted his old friend nonchalantly as he walked over to join them. “I know we never exchanged IRL info, but with all your skills, I'd been hoping you'd find some way to track us down.” 

“I'd been meaning too.” Argo finally replied once Asuna had put her down, “but life kept getting in the way. It's good to see you all again.” 

Everyone else quickly followed Kirito over and gave their own greetings to the former information broker. With the exception of Sinon, they had all known her in some manner or another, but none had been as close to her as Asuna and Kirito had. 

“So you're the last person they brought on board for our party?” Kirito asked. 

“You got it Ki-boy. You know I can't say no when the price is right.” She replied with a smirk.

“I thought you said you had your budget slashed?” Kirito asked, turning to Agent Nishiyama. “How'd you afford her insane rates?”

“Hey, I resent that!” Argo retorted. 

“We did.” Agent Nishiyama sighed heavily, though Kirito couldn't tell if it was real or him being dramatic. “Miss... Argo's rather large retainer is coming out of my own pay. It's going to be a long while of instant ramen for me.” 

“Hey wait... you just called her Argo.” Asuna stated. “You call the rest of us by our real names.”

“Very true Miss Yuki. It was one of many additional conditions that she insisted upon before accepting the contract. As she was the only person I believed could fill our final slot, I didn't have much choice but to accept.”

Everyone turned back to Argo ready to ask a barrage of questions but Agent Nishiyama cut them off. “If you don't mind, we can discuss this all later. I would like to get back to the business at hand.”

Reluctantly, they quickly settled back into their chairs with Argo taking the seat that Agil had left vacant, and sorted out their party composition. They had just began discussing character options when Agent Shirai returned with a coffee and resumed her silent vigil at the corner of the table. 

Klein opted to to play a Brawler when he found out that they were the only ones who could wield two handed swords from the get go. To nobody’s surprise, Kirito, Sinon, and Argo took the Duellist, Officer, and Rouge classes respectively. Liz snatched up the Researcher and Agent Nishiyama filled out their one of everything roster with a Spiritualist. That left Asuna in the surprising position to be able to pick whatever she wanted. After a little thought, she decided to go with what was most comfortable to her and selected Duellist as well.

“Now that we're all set, I have one last bit of information to share before we dive.” Agent Nishiyama said. “The only lead I have on what might be behind all of this.”

Everyone leaned forward slightly, focused intently on what their handler had to say. 

“This is a full map of the ETO world.” he said, as a digital map replaced the character avatars on the table. 

A large city dominated the central region of the map and a few others were scattered about with nothing but wilderness and a few sparse roads and train tracks between them. There were also about a dozen other zones that were projected in amorphous spheres adjacent to the main map. 

“The central city in ETO is called Arkham, but the city itself is also the first questing area for new players.”

“Wait, they have that much quest content in the city itself?” Kirito asked. 

“Unlike other VRMMO's, ETO has no safe zones whatsoever. Anyone can be attacked at anyplace, at anytime.” 

“That's crazy!” Asuna exclaimed. 

“Yeah,” Liz put in. “So you're saying that I could be crafting away and someone could just come by, attack me and swipe my stuff?” 

“Essentially yes.” Agent Nishiyama confirmed. “Though there is a bounty system in place to punish players that engage in such actions, skilled pvpers use it as a test to take on multiple people all trying to track them down and kill them for the reward.” 

“Yikes.” Was all Liz could manage in response. 

“The other cities are all large quest hubs a well, Dunwitch, Kingsport, and Ipswitch. The spheres you see on the side are other worlds that your party can be transported to in order to combat the various horrors that lurk there. There is also a level scaling system implemented in the game that for the most part allows anyone to go almost anywhere right out of the gate.”

“What's this zone?” Kirito asked, pointing to a partially shaded city. 

“That would be my lead.” Agent Nishiyama revealed. “Innsmouth is the only area that has yet to be explored fully as only a handful of players have made it there.”

“How's that?” Klein asked “Is there some super secret way to get there?” 

“No, everyone knows how to get there, but they are being stopped.” The images of the maps faded away and were replaced by a blurry image of a figure in a black cloak wielding a wicked looking scythe. The player tag over the avatar simply read Reaper. 

“This player, though some believe he is actually an overpowered NPC made to look like a player, has killed nearly every player that has tried to make it to Innsmouth. There are videos online of him that some guilds have taken where the Reaper wipes out an entire raid group without loosing more than half his HP.”

Everyone was on their feet at that comment shouting various forms of “that's insane” or “no way.” 

“But some people have got past him?” Kirito finally realized aloud. 

“Yes, though it has only been a handful of players and each by using the same strategy. The majority of their guild would sacrifice themselves, distracting the Reaper long enough for a few of their players to sneak into Innsmouth. Both of the Anathme Blades as well as my roommate had managed to make it into Innsmouth in the game.”

Agent Nishiyama let that sink in for a moment before continuing. “I don't know if the Reaper is responsible or it's just a coincidence, but the only connection we have right now is Innsmouth, so our first priority is finding a way to, at the very least, get past the Reaper.”

“Well, we're not going to get anywhere our here.” Klein stated. “Let's get in there and see what kind of world we're up against.”

“Please, this way.” Agent Shirai said, gesturing to a nearby door.

She led them out the door and around the corner into the room in the opposite side of the window. This one had six pods in it and according to what Agent Nishiyama had said, there was another one just like it down the hall. 

Agent Shirai spent a few minutes going over some safety procedures and hooking them all up to some non-invasive monitoring equipment before the six of them climbed into their pods. 

“I'll be waiting for you all in the Arkham town square.” Agent Nishiyama said. “The tutorial doesn't take long, so we should all be there in about fifteen minutes.”

They all settled into their respective monitoring pods and said the words. “Link start.”

*************

Kirito opened his eyes to see the character creation screen set out before him. There were three options given: customize avatar, random avatar, and personal avatar. Kirito tapped lightly on personal avatar and his body took on a form very similar to that of his in the real world. Then he selected the duellist class for a drop down that appeared next to him. A moment later, the blank space around him shifted, as he loaded into the main game. 

The building he stood in looked a little worse for wear, but not unkempt. It actually reminded him a little of the Kendo dojos he'd attended when he was younger. Before him stood a slender but well built NPC with short grey hair and a handlebar moustache. Above his head floated the name Goro, Duelist Trainer. 

“Today, your training comes to an end.” He said in a gruff but official tone. “I wish to see your skills one last time, then I shall officially declare you a graduate of this academy.”

A small window appeared in Kirito's field of view. Accept Quest Tutorial? Followed by a yes and no option. 

He knew how to fight well enough, still every game had it's own quirks and the more information that he had about this one the better. Quickly, he tapped the yes icon. 

“Excellent.” Goro said. “Then we shall review the three basic sword skills, you shall no doubt learn more as you develop your own style however.” 

Sword Skills? Kirito thought. Could this game actually have sword skills as well? He withdrew a worn rapier that had appeared at his side and faced down the trainer. 

“Please, proceed and demonstrate a basic lunge.” 

A small notation script appeared in Kirito's vision. It read: Place one foot in front of the other in a sideways stance and point your sword at your target. When Kirito obeyed, the tip of his sword glowed for a moment, then when he stepped into the attack, he shot forward like a cannon towards the trainer. 

With a quick flash of his own sword, the trainer turned aside Kirito's strike and sent him stumbling across the room. Barely able to remain on his feet, Kirito turned back to face him. 

He looked down to his weapon, then back up to the trainer. What he had done felt similar to a sword skill... very similar in fact; yet it wasn’t quite the same. For one there was no flash of light that came with the initiation of a sword skill, and there was something else bothering him too, he just couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was. 

“Next is the parry, as I just demonstrated.” the instructor said. “When I lunge at you, turn my attack aside.” 

Another tooltip appeared for Kitiro. When an enemy attacks you, sweep your sword in front of you to turn the attack aside.

A few seconds later the trainer lunged at him and Kirito batted the attack away on reflex. 

“Well done,” the trainer acknowledged, quickly readying himself. “Last is the Riposte. Parry my attack again, but this time strike back with a lunge afterwards.”

Kirito performed the move with ease and his first Quest Complete notification of this new game popped up. 

“As you learn more, never forget that these three moves are the foundation upon which your other techniques are built. I have nothing more to teach you now, but I would pass along one more bit of information.” The trainer sat down on a small training bench and motioned for Kirito to join him. 

With a few quick strides and an impatient thump, he sat next to the tutorial trainer. 

“There is more out there that you can comprehend, and I don't mean in regards to technique. If I simply told you, you would not believe me; yet your skill is great enough that I believe I can show you.” He regarded Kirito with a serious and calculated glare. “There is a small island that you can see from the town docks, go and investigate it as soon as you are able, you will see the truth of why I truly took you on as a pupil.”

Another quest icon popped up. Investigate the Unvisited Isle. Kirito tapped confirm and a rueful smile appeared on the trainers face. 

“Keep your blade close,” he warned. “You can never be certain what lurks just beyond your sight.”

“Thank you.” Kirito said with a slight bow; though it was more out of habit than a belief that this trainer's code was advanced enough to truly appreciate the gesture. 

He departed the small training gym and found himself in a dour town square. The sky was overcast and all the buildings around him had the same well maintained, yet somehow dilapidated look about them.

The most distinguishing set of buildings by far raised up in the distance beyond a sign hanging above a large gate. Kirito could barely make out the words Miskatonic University on it. 

In the centre of the square where he now stood was a large fountain with several benches around it. On one of them sat Asuna, Argo, Sinon, and Agent Nishiyama all wearing muted attire that matched this drab new world.

“What took you so long Ki-boy?” Argo asked “Asuna got here a full minute before you.”

“I didn't realize that it was a race.” Kirito admitted. 

“Well it's a good thing, or else you'd realize that I kicked your butt.” Asuna stated with a sly smirk. 

Kirito stopped to think for a moment. He'd gone through all the short events rather quickly, maybe someone could have picked up a few seconds here or there, but a minute? Even if he had been trying he doubted he could have cleared the training mode so fast. 

Asuna's couldn't help but widen her smirk as she saw the puzzlement fill her boyfriend's face. 

“Okay you got me,” He finally said. “How'd you do it?”

“Hmm... not telling.” she replied. 

“For real?” he asked “You're just going to leave that hanging? Did you just skip the whole training because you're so comfortable with a rapier already and you figured you'd be fine without it?”

“Warmer.” 

Asuna couldn't help but giggle at the frustrated look on her boyfriend's face. “Come on, it's not like I can lord gaming knowledge over you very often, let me have my moment.” 

Kirito took a seat beside her. “Yeah, but I always tell you after.” he grumbled.

“Oh fine. If you riposte during the parry lesson, he skips to the end and gives you a slightly better starting weapon. Happy now?”

“Oh... that makes sense.” Kirito replied. “It's like a little boost for players rolling an alt.” 

“Ahem.” Liz cleared her throat just behind them. “I hate to interrupt your weird banter, but everyone's here now.” 

Sure enough, Klein and Liz had joined the group without either of them noticing. Kirito noted with a barely suppressed smirk that Klein’s starting weapon was a large baseball bat of all things. 

“Let's get this underway then.” Agent Nishiyama said as he sent party invites to everyone. “We should pick a nearby quest to get your feet wet. What's everyone got?”

Nishiyama broke out a map of the town and everyone checked where their respective starting quests were located. 

“Looks like mine's the closest.” Liz noted. She pulled up her quest screen and clicked the share icon. 

Kirito tapped the accept icon and read the message that followed: Recently, some of the students in the astronomy wing of the University’s science building have been acting odd. They have been running the machines all night and excluding all others from witnessing their work. Recently a student who tired to sneak in was badly beaten before being tossed out. Please investigate the situation and determine the cause of this strange behaviour. 

Below the text was listed a small cash reward and a low level piece of gear, basically what you’d expect from any beginner quest. 

“Well we better get moving them.” Asuna said and headed off towards their first quest.

*************

The short walk to the University already had Kirito wondering if this drab overcast aesthetic was just because of the game's weather system, or if it was a permanent feature he would have to adapt to. 

As Liz led them through the campus grounds, he also couldn't help but wonder if the dozens of large multi-story buildings around them were fully accessible. He wasn't sure exactly how big Arkham actually was yet, but after some quick math and educated guesswork, he figure that ETO could easily have a much larger map than Aincrad had. 

They soon arrived at a central building listed simply as “Administration” and entered through a pair of large glass double doors. An elderly receptionist with eye wear that looked more like magnifying glasses than anything else sat at a desk nearby with a quest marker over he head. Her character nameplate simply read “University Receptionist”, but she was wearing a name tag that said “Hello, my name is Ruth.” 

Liz stepped up to the desk since it was her quest. “Hello uhh... Ruth?” she said. 

“Yes that's me,” she replied in a warm grandmotherly voice. “What can I do for you young lady?”

After the NPC spoke, her nameplate changed to “Ruth, University Receptionist”. 

“Professor Brighton asked us to look into the issues in the Astronomy department.” 

“Oh, nasty business that,” Ruth replied. “I'm not sure what's come over those students. After what they did to poor Karl, I honestly expected the police.” 

Sinon quickly pushed past Kirito to stand next to Liz and flashed Ruth a gleaming police badge. “Due to the rash of disturbances in Arkham recently, we've deputized some of the local citizenry to assist us. I am currently training this bunch.”

“Well I suppose that makes sense.” Ruth said after a few moments, then fished a key out of one of her many drawers. “Take the stairs over there to the top floor and it's the third door on your right.” 

Asuna spoke up the moment she was sure that they were out of ear shot. “That was pretty neat, how did you know you could do that?”

“It's my a class' unique ability,” Sinon replied. “So long as I don't go overboard, which was not explained in detail, I can use my authority to get the locals to help out.”

“That sounds sweet,” Klein exclaimed. “But what makes it unique though? I thought all the classes were different here.”

“There are to a point,” Agent Nishiyama clarified. “You see, many of the abilities in ETO are cross class, you can be a researcher that's great with a sword or an officer that can do magic; your class is more of a guideline on what might suit you best. That being said, there are a few abilities that can only be used by certain classes, and a good chuck of them are unlockable.” 

“You could have mentioned that earlier.” Kirito stated. 

“There are so many little nuances to this game, if I'd spent all night going over them, we never would have had a chance to dive. Tonight I hit you with he cliff notes and practical experience. We can go over the minutia later.” 

No one else seemed to be taking any issue with Agent Nishiyama's explanation, but Kirito was still uneasy. Perhaps with everything that had happened between Heathclief and Kikuoka, he simply didn't trust authority figures anymore. At least he hoped that was all it was. 

They soon reached the top floor and Klein took the lead followed closely by Kirito and Asuna, then the rest of the team. The hallway they found themselves in was dim, with a few remaining lights flickering inconstantly. There were a few closed doors to their left, but none of the right. At the end of the hall was a small square area with a large window. In the corner, braced up against it was a figure, half slumped onto the floor. 

Kirito and Klein approached cautiously, their weapons drawn, but it it only took a second for Asuna to push past them to check on the stranger. Kirito stayed on her heals, eyes never leaving the form on the ground while Klein swept across to the adjacent corridor, ready for an ambush. 

“All clear.” Klein called over his shoulder. 

The NPC slumped on the floor was simply listed as Injured Man. He looked to be in his early twenties with matted brown hair and a dark blue turtleneck. A grimace of pain splayed across his face as he sat there clutching his side. 

“Are you okay?” Asuna asked, kneeling down next to his slumped form.

The injured man's hazy eyes cleared slightly at the sound of he voice. “Please,” he begged, “you have to stop them, they've all gone insane!” 

“What happened?” Kirito asked.

“Start from the beginning.” Asuna prompted.

“My name is Karl Stribe, I'm studying astronomy... or I was.” As he spoke those words, just like the lady downstairs, his nameplate changed to Karl Stribe, Student.”

“I had just left during a break between semesters to visit my folks in Oregon. Our teacher, Mr. Hawke, called me up saying that they had found something amazing and that I should get back to the campus right away.”

“Unfortunately... or perhaps fortunately in hindsight, I had familial commitments that I couldn't get out of, so I had to wait. When I returned last week they beat me up and kicked me out of the lab for no reason. I tried to sneak back in to get my stuff tonight but... they were more rough this time around.”

Karl looked up at Asuna and Kirito with pleading eyes, while wincing through he pain. “I don't know what they found, but something's changed them. Please you have to stop them, I know it sounds crazy, but they aren't the people I used to know and they're doing something terrible in there, I can feel it.”

The party turned down the hallway looking towards a sign hanging over one of the doors that ready “Astronomy Labs”. Calmly the rest of the party drew their weapons and prepared for their first fight in ETO.

“Okay,” Asuna said, stepping to the forefront. “Klein, Kirito, and I will go in first. Argo, Sinon, provide support where needed. Liz, keep Agent Nishiyama covered.” 

“Right!” they all replied in unison. 

“I'll get the door.” Argo said, keeling down in front to get the lock to head height. After a few moments of fiddling with a hairpin there was a soft click and she was able to softly turn the handle. Quietly, leaving the door slightly ajar, she stepped back into the middle of the group.

Klein took the lead. He instinctively raised his baseball bat and sighed, longing for the feel of a trusty katana in his hands once again, before gently pushing the door open and stepping into the room. Asuna and Kirito followed close behind, but spread out as best as they could. The others quietly slid in after them.

The room was long and rectangular with computers lining the walls and charts of the night sky scattered about tables in the middle. Otherwise it was dark and betrayed no sign of the astronomers, save for a light shining from a door to another room. 

“Surround the door,” Asuna ordered. “Then we'll funnel them through and hit them from all sides.” 

She and Kirito each took one side of the door and Klein stood ready in the middle. Sinon quickly settled into a spot with a good line of fire and reasonable cover while everyone else searched for a good location. 

As she was looking for a good spot, Liz noticed a closed door that everyone else had bypassed. “Hey, do you think there might be something in here?” she asked quietly as she reached for the handle.

“Liz wait!” Kirito shouted on reflex.

Either by Kirito's shout, or Liz's touching of the handle, all Hell suddenly broke loose.

The door in front of Liz shot open hitting her in the face and laid her out across the floor of the lab. Her HP dropped a little and her status bar flashed with a dazed icon. 

A pained scream echoed out of the closet and an NPC burst from it wielding a firefighter's axe. The icon above his head simply read Maniac. They all reacted instantly, Klein a step ahead of Kirito and Asuna, and Sinon already drawing down on the attacker. 

Then the main door burst open and several Crazed Astronomer's charged through wielding knives, and various other sharp objects. 

Kirito caught a piece of one, causing the attacker to stumble and Sinon finished it off with a few well placed shots, but four more made it past and launched a counter-attack. They blew past Kirito and Asuna at the door before heading for the others in the room. Instantly the lab turned into a giant brawl. 

Two of the crazed attackers rushed Sinon in unison. She backpedalled as she unloaded into the one on the left, bringing the attacker down, but her clip ran dry as she backed into a wall. 

Just as the remaining NPC was about to strike, Argo burst from the shadows. She buried twin daggers into the assailant's torso and rode him to the ground on the force of her momentum. As the NPC hit the floor, it's HP hit zero and it went limp beneath Argo's weight. 

Meanwhile, the other two attackers had rushed for Liz's prone form and Klien's now exposed back. 

Agent Nishiyama rose to their defence, holding up some strange icon and muttering something in a language no on recognized. Instantly, one of the attackers faltered, stumbled, and crashed to the floor flailing about with violent convulsions. In a few moments, the NPC seemed to age a century, becoming a withered shell of it's former self and useless in the fight. 

Klein was still locked in combat with the maniac, he had used his bat to lock the axe under the blade and was grappling with the maniac for the weapon. The last assailant brought his dagger within inches of striking before her froze. The NPC looked down to see the tip of a rapier had pierced his heart from behind and protruded out through his chest. 

“Never turn your back on the enemy.” Asuna said as she slid her rapier out of her foe. The NPC's health hit zero a moment later and it slumped to the floor like it's compatriots. 

The Maniac finally pulled his weapon free and Klein was forced to backpedal quickly to avoid another of the NPC'S sweeping strikes. The weapon just missing both him and the nearby Asuna before burning itself deep into a mahogany desk. 

With a quick strike, Klein connected the bat to the maniac's head. A sickening crunch echoed through the room and the NPC dropped lifeless to the floor. 

The entire fight had lasted ten seconds at most, but it left them all shaken and stunned. 

“That was... faster than usual.” Asuna finally commented as she helped Liz to her feet. “Though I suppose these are low level mobs.”

“Not exactly,” Agent Nishiyama replied. “In ETO health is low and damage is high. If you're not careful, you can go down just as quickly as they did.”

“I'm sorry,” Liz said “I should have been more careful.”

“We also missed the door,” Klein noted. “That guy might have just jumped out at us mid fight if we hadn't done it like this.” 

A slight smile slowly found it's way to Liz's face. “Thanks,” she said.

Kirito, who was still guarding the door in case more enemies tried to break in quickly ushered everyone over. It had swung shut in the commotion, but he could still hear a sound coming from the other side. It was slight, but it sounded like something was being snapped over and over again.

As everyone gathered closer by, Kirito readied his sword and quietly pushed the door open. Before him was a small study with several overturned chairs on a drab carpet. An oak desk dominated the centre of the room and behind it rested hundreds of books upon several shelves. 

At the desk sat a lone figure in a drab lab coat. His eyes could not be seen for they stared straight down, but his hair was horribly dishevelled and greying in several strange patches. His hands extended like claws, digging into the table with terrible strength. As he pulled them back towards himself, bits of desk, nail, and blood mingled to a chorus of light snaps. 

“I tired to stop them... at first,” the figure who's nameplate read Astronomy Professor mumbled. 

Cautiously, Kirito and the others entered the room, all trying to keep their eyes on the man’s hidden face instead of what he was doing with his hands. As the snapping sound caused Kirito to think of it again, his sanity meter dipped slightly. 

“It just... gets inside your head.” the man continued. “The terrible thirst for knowledge... and the need to do anything to keep it.” 

“Please stop,” Asuna begged. “We're here to help you, tell us what did this to you and we can put an end to it.”

The man trembled in his seat as a particularly large chunk of nail broke off of his index finger and spooled more blood onto the table. “It's not just what's here, it's the whispers from beyond the starts; every fibre of my being screams at me to obey.”

He looked up just enough for them to see his crazed eyes and crooked, broken smile. “But the pain you see, the pain can keep them at bay for just a little while; a few moments where I can be some semblance of myself again.

“Even so... I can hear the whispers returning... they are getting so loud now. They want me to protect the knowledge they have found... they want me to stop you.” The man took a deep ragged breath. “But I won't!”

With a blur of motion rivalling the speed of Asuna herself, the NPC drew a concealed pistol, stuck it to his temple, and pulled the trigger. A quick spurt of blood and bone ejected from the opposite end of his head, and the Professor slumped onto the table in a heap. 

Asuna, Liz, and Klein flinched, looking away just before the shot. Kirito, Sinon, and Argo winced, but did not turn. Their sanity bars dipped a little more. 

Liz gasped urgently for air, but she couldn't seem to get enough. “Why... the hell... would someone... make this.” she stammered through ragged gasps. 

Asuna wrapped here in her arms gently, a single tear rolling down here own face. 

“It's okay,” Agent Nishiyama said. “This is just a game, it’s not real; keep reminding yourself that and the shock will quickly pass.” 

“Spoken like someone who's never had to live in one!” Asuna snapped back. “These might just be NPC's to you, but to us... some of them have been as real as flesh and blood.”

Agent Nishiyama seemed taken aback for a moment by the outburst, but he quickly recovered. “I'm just saying, we don't know yet how the players minds are being affected. It's possible that becoming too invested in the NPC's and their world could make it easier for you to become a target.” 

“Yeah well, deal with it!” 

Asuna couldn't help but think of some of the NPC's in Aincrad; ones that felt were just as real to her as Kirito was. The thought of Kizmel, or God forbid Yui, going through something like that poor old professor had sent shivers down her spine. 

Klein gently rested his hand on Liz's shoulder. “Hey,” he said. “We made it through Aincrad, not just for ourselves, but for everyone else trapped in there. People are dying here too, I know it's hard, but if we balk at this, who's going to help them?”

“I know... I know.” Liz replied slowly, her breathing finally returning to normal. “It's just, I'm a blacksmith, I never did the front-line combat thing that you were all so famous for. I'd never seen anyone die before, even in Aincrad. I knew about it sure, had customers... even friends who never came back... but I never saw it in front of me like that.”

“At least in my experience, it's best to keep moving forward. Put one foot in front of the other, and it makes things a little easier to bare.” Kirito put in. “To that effect, the next door is locked.”

“Key's here.” Argo said lifting from around the dead professors neck and tossing it to Kirito. She took a quick moment to secure his pistol and check for anything else valuable. Argo was nothing if not pragmatic. 

“Whatever caused this madness is up ahead, stay focused everyone.” Kirito said as he readied the key.

“I'd say whoever caused this madness was behind a computer screen.” Liz mumbled, but got ready with the rest of the party anyway. 

Quietly as he could manage, Kirito pushed the door open. 

What awaited them was a large room with a domed roof. In the centre sat a massive telescope with it's lens pointed firmly at the ceiling. What drew everyone's attention however, was not this room itself, but the strange creature that was perched halfway up the telescope. 

Kirito couldn't put the macabre creature he saw before him into easy words, but if he'd been hard pressed to try, he would have said it looked like a giant fungus trying to burst out of a crustacean’s shell. Despite that, there was a clear indication of insectoid features as well, between it's buzzing wings and strange head, if it could even be called that. At first he thought it was just a jumbled mess, but looking closer revealed hundreds of small antennae that were stretching out in every direction all formed around a convoluted ellipsoid shape. The nameplate over the creature simply read Mi-Go. 

“Yuck” Was all Liz could say upon seeing this strange creature. 

It turned it's antennaed head towards the group and emitted a sound so sharp and shrill that it nearly drove the party to their knees. As most of them covered their ears to try to block it out, their sanity meters slowly started to drop. The only sound that barely cut through the curdling screech was Sinon discharging her pistol at the monster. 

The Mi-Go leaped from the telescope to escape the gunfire, and spread it's bug wings wide, circling the room. Now focused on avoiding bullets, the shrill sound it was emitting mostly died down. 

“Spread out!” Kirito shouted over the noise. “Try to get an angle on it!” 

Quickly, he made for the telescope in the centre of the room, hoping to use it's height to his advantage. Without taking his eyes off the circling Mi-Go, Kirito ran up the incline of the massive telescope and leaped at the creature. 

The monster's multi-directional vision saw the attack coming though and quickly adjusted it's trajectory to avoid the strike. However, it noticed almost too late, that Asuna had also leaped towards it form the opposite side. Despite the pincer attack, it still managed to contort itself to a point where the attack that would have cut through one of its wings, instead bounce harmlessly off its chitinous exoskeleton. 

As soon as Asuna and Kirito were clear, Sinon unloaded the remainder of her clip on the Mi-Go. It evaded most of the shots, but one struck true with a small splash of ichor. It did little to deter the creature however, as it quickly turned on a dive for the remaining members of the party. 

Klein rushed to block it's path and took the full force of the creature's attack head on. He blocked one of the monter's grasping claws with his bat, but the other ripped into his side making a solid chunk of his health disappear in an instant. 

Argo leaped at the creature from behind, daggers ready to cripple it, but one of it's back legs lashed out and knocked her aside. 

Kirito and Asuna were now almost upon the creature as well, ready to add their strength to the brawl. Sensing it was being surrounded, the Mi-Go quickly took off into the air and was out of their reach once more. 

“Damn it!” Klein cursed. “No matter what angle we come at it from, it can always see us coming.”

“If only we had some way to blind it” Asuna remarked. 

“Oh that's it!” Liz exclaimed. “I've got this, let it get close to me.”

“You sure about this?” Klein asked.

“Positive, I'll be fine.”

Liz ran out of the clustered group as soon as Sinon finished loading up her next clip. “Over here you big gross bug thing!” she shouted. 

The Mi-Go quickly took notice of the lone player separated from it’s pack and dove in for an attack. 

Liz circled the room quickly with the Mi-Go in tow, looping back around to the group. Just as the creature was about to pull up, Liz pulled a massive flashlight out of her pack and shone it right into what passed for the Mi-Go's eyes. 

The creature spasmed in mid air and released an ear piercing wail of pain that caused everyone's sanity bars to drop a little. The Mi-Go crashed to the ground, but it's forward momentum carried it onward like a wrecking ball. Not able to outrun it, Liz quickly dove to the side and out of the way. 

The monster was still shrieking and spasming when Asuna and Kirito plunged their blades into the gaps in it’s chitinous exoskeleton. After a few moments, the Mi-Go finally went silent and stopped moving for good. 

Liz sat on the floor groaning with her head in her lap. She was still suffering the worst from the Mi-Go's scream from being so close when she blinded it. 

“That was pretty gutsy using yourself as bait.” Sinon said. “Where did you get that giant flashlight anyway.” 

“I figured that since this was my starting quest, I should have something that could help.” Liz tried to stand up but stumbled and grabbed onto Sinon for support. “Why is everything all fuzzy?” she asked.

“What's your sanity level?” Agent Nishiyama inquired.

“Uhh, fifty-eight percent.” she replied after a quick check.

“Once you get below sixty percent, it starts effecting how the game translates data to your brain, it's to simulate your character's fraying sanity. The blurry vision is the first symptom, but as your sanity drops lower, the game will affect you in other ways too.”

“Another thing you neglected to mention.” Kirito pointed out. 

“Like I said, there are thousands of features in this game, it would take days to go over them all. I wanted to see how well you could all handle new situations and you've all done fairly well.” Agent Nishiyama turned to regard the while group. “Clearly we still need to refine your skills in ETO, but the quests scale in difficulty to the number of players, so this was still no easy task. We should call it quits for this evening so you can all get some rest; we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

Before logging off for the night, they turned in Liz's quest and she was rewarded with her first spell, Sight from Beyond. It allowed her to project an astral form to anywhere she could see and gain vision of the area. 

The party grouped back up in the main square by the fountain as a place to start their journey from the next day. Then the familiar rushing sensation of logging out and they were back in the physical world. 

Kirito opened his eyes and slowly slid out of his pod. Everyone else was still re-orienting themselves when agent Shirai walked in. 

“How did everything go?” she asked. 

“Well enough.” Kirito reported. He looked over at the others who were also getting out of their pods. “But we do still have a long way to go to adapt to a game this different.” 

“If you'll follow me, it is quite late and I would be happy to drive you all home.”

Slowly, the group gathered up all there things and filed back into the car. They spoke little on the ride home, each contemplating that beating the world itself was going to be difficult enough, but knowing that there was a malicious force obscured behind it all struck a deep cord of fear into each of them. 

*************

Agent Nishiyama was still in the office pouring over some files when Agent Shirai returned. 

“Dai, it's two in the morning, go home.” she said while fighting back a yawn herself. 

“Just making sure that everything is ready for tomorrow.”

“Do you really think they can handle this?” she asked.

“Without a doubt.”

“It just feels... wrong, not telling them everything I mean.”

Agent Nishiyama finally looked up at his partner. “They'll find out on their own soon enough.”

“Except by then it will be too late... they should have the choice to opt out now.”

“I doubt they would... certainly Kirigaya wouldn't.”

“Then why the half truths?” Shirai pressed.

“Precaution only... simply put, like it or not, we can't do this alone. Besides, right now it's only a theory, I could be way off base.”

“I don't think you are.”

Agent Nishiyama sighed. “Neither do I, but we have no solid proof that this Reaper character is at all affiliated with Laughing Coffin. It certainly fits their MO, couple that with the real world death and it all lines up... but it's still all circumstantial.”

“It's not an easy call.”

“No, but it's made. Now you should follow your own advice and get some sleep.”

At the thought of rest, a second yawn escaped Shirai's lips. 

“All right,” she agreed. “But I'll be taking the cot in the back, if I still hear you clattering around by the time I'm turning my lights off, I'm going to come back in here and kick your ass.”

“Yes ma'am,” 

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait on the next chapter. Life been pretty crazy and until recently I hadn't even been continuing the main story forward, let alone revising and updating the old chapters. But I'm back into the swing of things now and am going to try to get one of these posted every week or so like I'd originally intended. 
> 
> I hope you're all enjoying the story so far and if you can't wait for the revised chapters to be updated here, everything I've written so far is over on Fan Fiction. 
> 
> See you all next time. :)


	4. Chapter 4: Plan of Action

Chapter IV – Plan of Action:

It had been nearly two weeks since they had started ETO, and nearly all of their free time had been spent trying to catch up to the top players and have a shot at facing The Reaper. Most of them didn't have any trouble with the arrangement, but Asuna found it particularly hard to manage. 

She was still managing to get all her schoolwork done, albeit barely, so at least her mother wasn't cracking down too hard on her yet. Even so, she was quickly running out of excuses as to why she had to go out every night. 

I wouldn't have been so bad if they weren't on such a timetable, but a few days earlier, Agent Nishiyama had informed them that there had been another pair of fatalities. A gamer in the south side of Toyko had killed their spouse and then taken their own life. Though it had not been publicly linked to ETO, Asuna and the others all knew better. 

“Asuna?”

“Hm?” she instinctively replied, coming back to reality.

She and Kirito were sitting across from each other at a table in the Dicey Cafe. It was their fist and likely only night off from diving into ETO, but she still couldn't think of much else. Asuna had barely touched her salad, but Kirito had already polished off the burger he'd ordered. Now he just sat there looking at her with an aura of concern. 

“What?” She asked.

“You were a million miles away for a minute there.” he replied. “You've barely touched your food.”

“Just missing the days in Aincrad.” 

“Wait, for real?” 

Asuna smiled ruefully. “It used to feel so hard... being surrounded by all that death and danger; but at least there we were the best, we could face down anything that came our way. Out here, the death and danger have somehow remained, but now we're playing catch up.” 

“You're thinking about the other two deaths?” 

Asuna was silent for a few seconds before she finally nodded. “And however many more will suffer in the time it takes us to figure this all out.” 

“We're doing everything we can. Try to think about all the people we'll be saving instead of those we've lost.”

“Were it so easy.” she replied sullenly. 

“Is that really how you think of our time in Aincrad?”

Asuna looked up, a questioning expression on her face.

“You said that you missed the days in Aincrad, but how many died before we were able to clear that game?” Kirito asked.

Asuna's face darkened ad many bitter memories flooded back for a moment. “More than I care to count.”

“Do you blame yourself for their deaths too?” 

“A few... ones that fought and died beside me on the front lines... but for the most part, no. We fought as hard as we could, we did everything in our power, and eventually we won.” 

“It's no different now. We may not be forced into it like before, but we're still doing everything we can. With everything that's happened over the past few years, sometimes, to me at least, it feels like we never really left Aincrad.”

Asuna squeezed Kirito's hand gently. “Thanks.” she said.

Kirito couldn't help but awkwardly blush a little. “You're welcome, for whatever it was I said that helped.” 

“Nothing specific, just being here and talking with me was all I think I really needed.”

“Always.” he replied with a smile.

Asuna looked down at Kirito's hand in hers. Sometimes it felt like they were so in sync that they shared the same brain, but other times...

“Kirito?” she said quietly. 

“Yeah, what is it?”

“I need you to promise me something.”

Kirito hesitated before responding, the look on Asuna's face was the same one she had worn when they had their fight before the seventy-fifth floor boss. He had the instant sinking feeling that he had somehow done or said something wrong or stupid, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out what that was. 

“Uhh... what is it?” he asked cautiously. 

“No more going it alone, I need you to promise me.”

“What are you talking about?” Kirito asked, more than a little puzzled. “We're all in it together this time.”

“But you didn't know that when you agreed, and you never even thought to ask me what I felt before you accepted the job.”

“Wait, are you saying that you would have turned him down?”

“No, that's not it, I... just want you to care what I think about big decisions. We're partners, even if we’re on the same page, we should still make the decision together.”

“I was the one that released the world seed, I have a responsibility to-”

“You're also the one who married me and adopted Yui; you have a responsibility to us as well!” 

Asuna let go of Kirito's hand and they both sat in silence for a few moments. 

“Look, I'm not going to stop you from trying to do something that means so much to you.” Asuna took a moment to consciously soften the tone of her voice. “That burning determination is one of the many things I love about you. I just want to be part of the process, as a partner should be.” 

Kirito was silent for a few moments more before he finally met the gaze of the woman he loved. 

“Okay,” he said. “I promise that I won't go it alone anymore.”

Asuna took his hand once more and squeezed it tight. “Thank you.” she said, leaning forward and giving him a light but loving kiss. 

“We're not interrupting anything are we?” Klein's voice snapped Asuna back to the world around them causing her to quickly retreat back to her chair.

Neither Kirito nor Asuna had noticed that Klein, Liz, and Sinon had arrived at their table with heir own food a moment ago. 

“N...no.” Kirito stammered. “We were just-”

“Going a little overboard with the PDA?” Liz interjected.

Kirito slumped back into his own chair with a grumpy scowl. As far as he was concerned, he and his girlfriend should be free to kiss whenever they damn well pleased. He was about to shoot back a retort when Liz's phone starting going off.

She flipped it up and instantly a sad look shrouded her face. “It's Silica again.” 

“We can't keep ditching her forever.” Asuna said, “She's already getting really upset with us.”

“Well we also can't bring her along,” Sinon replied. “Agent Nishiyama was clear, no one outside of our group can know about it.” 

“He needs our help, we should be able to field the party we see fit.” Kirito rebuked. 

“I don't dispute that,” Sinon stated. “The problem is that we're on his payroll and using his tech, we kinda need to play by his rules.” 

Liz sent a quick text back about heading to bed early and turned off her phone. 

“Well that still leaves us in a rough situation, if we can't bring Silica along, it leaves us one party member short.” Klein noted.

“There's not much we can do about that.” Kirito said. “Silica, Leafa, and Agil are out; that means no dice IRL and I sure don't plan on exposing anyone digital to ETO when we still don't know what the effects are.”

“I'm sure as hell not letting Yui in there.” Asuna insisted. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine when she remembered the fate of the astronomy teacher on their first quest. “I know that Alice would come in a heartbeat, even thought Miss Koujiro is keeping her crazy busy; but you’re right, we don’t know how this would effect her.”

“My thoughts exactly, though I imagine there’s going to be hell to pay when Alice does figure out we’ve kept all this from her.”Kirito agreed. “As it stands, I think we're doing fine as we are.”

“Okay then hotshot, do you think we've got what it takes to down this Reaper guy?” Klein pressed, plunking down in a seat next to Kirito. 

“Honestly, it's hard to say.” Kirito replied. “None of the footage online has been that great quality, so it's hard to get a sense of his fighting style. I don't think there's any way to find out short of actually taking him on.”

“Man, I was never any good at getting any rest before a big fight, I don't think I'll be sleeping much tonight.” Klein moaned. 

Kirito's phone now cut into the conversation; the caller ID listed it as Agent Nishiyama. 

“Hello.” Kirito answered. 

“I'm sorry to intrude, I know I gave you all the night off.”

“It's okay, what's up?”

“I need everyone to come back to the lab right away, Argo just heard of something going on in ETO that may give us our first real clue into this mess. We'll fill you all in when you get here.”

“Okay, everyone's still with me; we're at the Dicey Cafe.”

“No surprise there, I'll send Agent Shirai to pick you up right away.”

“Looks like our night off just got cancelled.” Kirito revealed as he closed his phone. 

“For real!?” Liz exclaimed. “This work schedule's going to drive me mad before anything in the game.” 

Liz's comment got her a few awkward looks.

“I didn't mean to...” Liz sighed. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't make light of things. I'm just really tired.”

“I get it, we all are. It's okay.” Klein assured her.

Liz looked around the table and everyone else nodded. 

The group quickly paid their bill, scarfed down their remaining food, thanked Agil, and headed outside to meet Agent Shirai. The ride back to the lab was full of speculation on what was to come, but no one managed to guess anywhere near the heart of the matter.

*************

Argo had beaten them all back to the lab and now sat at the head of the same giant table they had found themselves seated at on their first day at the lab. 

“Since Argo managed to find this one out, I'll let her brief you.” Agent Nishiyama stated. 

The mousy young lady looked more than a little awkward at the head of the table, but she managed to tough it out.

“As you all know,” she said “the other day another couple died in relation to ETO. It turns out that tonight their guild, Eternal Quintessence, is holding an in game memorial for them.”

They had all been to more than their fair share of memorials before. Many in Aincrad, and again with their friend Yuuki had passed, both in game and in the real world. 

“Their guild has invited any players who wish to pay their respects to attend the ceremony this evening.”

“And you want us to crash the ceremony?” Kirito asked, directing his gaze to Agent Nishiyama. 

“Hardly anything so base; besides it's not technically crashing if there is an open invitation.” he pointed out. “This is the first chance we've had to speak to people directly associated with one of the ETO victims. It could give us invaluable insight into what's causing all of this.”

“He's not wrong.” Sinon pointed out.

“That doesn’t make him right.” Kirito countered. “These people are mourning the loss of two close friends, it would be seriously disrespectful to go poking around at a time like that.”

“I'm not crazy about the idea either,” Asuna interjected. “Still, if this can help us figure out how to save more people, shouldn't we at least try?”

“Yeah... I suppose.” Kirito finally relented. He looked around at everyone else who nodded their assent. 

“So, what do we need to know?” Asuna asked.

“As I mentioned, the guild is called Eternal Quintessence.” Argo reiterated. “Azra and Astora were co-guild masters; they were also husband and wife IRL. Their guild is understandably torn up over this with their new acting GM Sindoval trying to keep things together. For the moment though, they have suspended all guild activities until after the funeral.” 

“So how did they know that these two were the victims?” Klein asked. “Not too many people give out their real life info.”

“A close real life friend of theirs IRL is also in the guild; Tetsu. He was the one who informed the guild what happened and would be most likely to have the kind of information we're looking for.”

“The memorial is being held in the South Church in Arkham city.” Argo continued. “Very few combat events take place there, and it is one of the only locations in the world where PVP is not allowed.”

“So here's the plan.” Agent Nishiyama summarized. “We head over there right away and pay our respects first. Then we start discreetly asking around about anything strange that happened leading up to the death of their GM's. If anyone can get time with Sindoval or Tetsu, that's priority. Any questions?”

The room stood silently affirmative.

“Okay then, let's dive in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter up and out. I think I'm going to stop saying when more of the chapters are going to make it over to Ao3 as I've been working on a lot of projects and editing the older chapters just hasn't been at the top of my priority list. Even so, I'm glad to have a reason to go get back to them and touch them up. 
> 
> The first draft is up to chapter 12 at the moment, so lots of content still to make it's way over to Ao3. I'm also looking at bringing over a two-part short story when I get the time to give that another once over. I'll be glad to have something up here that's actually completed. :) 
> 
> As always, please let me know if you have any constructive criticism, or just general thoughts on the story, I'm always glad to hear from my readers. 
> 
> Until next time,  
> \- Tawnis


End file.
